Talking to bureaucracies considered as a corporate fitness factor
Seth Godin eloquently describes the fitness factor that makes a restaurant suited to getting placement in an airport: they have to be run by corporations whose primary skill is dealing with bureaucracies. I wonder why this competency appears to exclude a comparable competency in preparing edible food?
Have you noticed that most airports feature the same restaurants? It's not an accident. The people who run these chains have organized themselves to be good at dealing with municipal organizations. Same thing goes for design firms, creative firms, accountants etc. that deal with large corporations.The art and skill of working with bureaucrats
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So if you want to play the game, knowing the rules of the game gives you an (unfair?) advantage. Huh.
Actually, it's more like "A lot of small businesses get burned when they charge just the 40% and the business proprietor expects that the other 60% comes for free. It doesn't."
There, I fixed it.
[citation needed]
I would have expected the 'tobacco' slice to be more in line with 'alcohol.' Hmm. That makes me wonder if this is accurate. I agree that the 'reading' slice is depressing. On the other hand, it is an opportunity. The need for storytelling is innately human. The interface to reading needs to be re-invented. The book, as much as people may resist, is technologically rigid and inflexible. We need the... ibook.
Are there businesses which specialize into linking enterprises to the bureaucracy in the most efficient and profitable manner possible?
In my experience, 40% of the fee goes for the work and 60% goes to pay for the do-overs, staffing, project management and hassle that comes from working from big organizations and committees.
Shouldn't that second "from" be a "for''?
This isn't the sort of thing I should be doing on a Saturday morning! I'm off to the Farmers Market...
Not sure I buy this exactly. Seems to me the reason you see big chains in airports is that the chains are the only food "dispensers" that can afford the ginormous fees required to be paid to the municipal governments.
Considering the up and down nature of food business one would need a corporation with a good cash flow to be able to pay fees when the business is down.
I've seen stats that say 90% of all independent restaurants fail in the first few years of business. Although I've not seen anything referencing chains, you can be sure it's not anywhere near 90%.
If you were an airport, would you want a business that has a 90% chance of failing or one that can weather so to speak.
Lastly, people have become numb to good food. They think Dominos is good pizza, McDonalds is good burgers, Panda is good chinese food, Subway is good sandwiches. In an airport, they just want something familiar...
This is why government, not corporations is the real threat to liberty, prosperity, and a variety in cultural experience.
Mega-corporations are only responding to incentives created by government bureaucracy. Limit government and you actually (counter-intuitively) limit corporations.
Small (read: "buy local", "mom and pop", "green" etc.) businesses only stand a chance when they don't need massive budgets to detangle and decipher local, state, and federal law/regulations.
All that law and regulation crap is what corporations feed off of. Most big business wants regulation to squeeze out its little competitors.
Go to the Austin, TX airport. Not as much cookie cutter franchises, and good representation of more local businesses. Not to mention, good food as well.
"Are there businesses which specialize into linking enterprises to the bureaucracy in the most efficient and profitable manner possible?"
There's a whole industry, staffed by independent contractors who were at one time part of the bureaucracy and who sell their knowledge/connections/influence- retired military officers, former government officials, and family of current government officials come to mind.
The new Indianapolis airport is about half local joints.
"Go to the Austin, TX airport"
Yeah, they're good (Salt Lick, breakfast tacos), also Portland has decent local chains, and the last few years SFO has gotten much better as well, especially in the international terminal, local fave Burger Joint, a taqueria, pretty good Japanese, etc. What are they doing that most airports don't?
Hum, must be profitable.
Sounds like government contracting.
MSP (Minneapolis / St. Paul) also does a nice job getting local places in
I will also note that the Pittsburgh Airport is very good and has a wide range of independent outfits. Once of the strategies that Pittsburgh has taken is to make the airport a "destination" like a mall. Put enough stores and ambiance in and folks might just make their Sunday afternoon a day at the airport.
Not sure how this has worked out as I've not been there in many years (before Sept 11) so I don't know if a nexus of security and "constitution free zone" would be a good place to spend a day.
The people who run these chains have organized themselves to be good at dealing with municipal organizations.
In many parts of the world that skill ("dealing with municipal organizations") is known as 'bribery'.
This makes a great deal of sense to me, as an owner of a small business that was 'burned' in just this way:
Agree with large, corporate client what's expected and deliver it. Cool. Within budget (just), great product. Everyone happy?
'Course not. The commitee doesn't like it. "We didn't think we'd be getting something like THAT!"
Says us, "But we have a all kinds of documentary evidence that this is EXACTLY what you wanted."
"Look, we're not [insert small, now burning, business here], YOU are. How were we supposed to know that what we asked for would turn out like this? Let's start again from scratch!"
Except there's no more money. Just burn.
Listen to Godin. Learn from Godin.
try dealing with outfits like Costco and Ikea. Visions of huge sales dance in your eyes and you end up being their one-shot loss leader. Incredibly onerous vendor contracts with huge penalties for even minor deviations or delays. Rich people didn't get rich by being nice and big companies didn't get big by being fair. Be told.
The Tucson International Airport also hosts local restaurants like Taco Bron and Ike's Coffee, as well as some chain providers like Boar's Head Deli and 31 Flavors.
Nothing talks to bureaucracies like money.
@#15: Not anymore. The Pittsburgh airport is all TGIF, Subway, and Quiznos now.
@TSDGUY
Sure, 90% of franchises don't fail within the first few years, but there are a hell of a lot of franchisees who lose their shirts (and homes, cars and everything else they own) just to be replaced by someone else with no visible 'closing' of the location to customers. Franchisors' business model does not depend at all on the success of an individual franchisee - in fact, they seem to prey on ignorant and wide-eyed franchisees (as well as immigrants, in my opinion).
In my experience, the franchisees who are successful end up being the ones who take over the failing franchises. My experience comes from malls, mind you, so I can't say whether or not this applies in general or to airports.
diannes - I second that. It also has some of the best art of any airport I've seen. Perhaps the exception that proves the rule?
Rather scanty link there short on facts and sources...
Hershmire @22, it's not a Wikipedia entry, nor was it meant to be one. It's an interesting observation by Seth Godin. You're not obliged to grant him credibility, but a lot of readers do.
TSDGUY said:
True that - I was introduced to this concept years ago when I was in college. We were helping unload and setup for a concert by a big rock group ("I think it was Toad-O, I'm not really sure" ;^), and one of the Semi Tractor drivers asked if there was a Domino's in town. We told him we knew a much better pizzaria just down the street from where we were standing, but he insisted - he wanted Domino's, as he put it, he knew it wasn't great, but it was predicatble and he couldn't afford to have an upset stomach (he was driving out of town in about 8 hours, on to the next gig.
I thought that was an interesting perspective, and your comment reminded me of it.
True about chain restaurants- that's the whole idea, to be able to go to any one in the country and the food is EXACTLY like that at any other one. No surprises.
Clearly a lot of people will settle for that, or large chains wouldn't exist.
It all depends on Where, in certain cities along the Mississippi, its knowing who's palm to grease more than anything else.
Many BB'ers seem to think that the health care industry, the energy industry and the auto industry ought to twitch to the bureaucratic whip.
Why should restaurants be any different??
@Teresa Nielsen Hayden, and I shan't.
Until Seth Godin opens comments on his blog, I declare him ridonkulous.